House Education Committee passes measure to allow two workers per school to carry guns (poll)

View full sizeHouse Education Committee Chairman John Moore, R-Brandon, discusses with reporters his impressions on a House bill that would allow two workers per public school carry concealed weapons, after the measure passed his committee on a split voice vote at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss., Monday, Feb. 4, 2013. The bill would allow local school boards to vote on allowing employees to carry a concealed weapon. Any employee carrying a concealed weapon would have to pass a firearms safety course. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

JACKSON, Mississippi -- Mississippi lawmakers may let two teachers or other employees per public school carry concealed weapons.

The House Education Committee passed the measure on a split voice vote Monday. The bill goes next to the House for more debate.

House Bill 988, written by Rep. Bubba Carpenter, R-Burnsville, would allow local school boards to vote on allowing two employees per school to carry guns.

"It allows a school district to set up their own marshal's service, a secret force within that school that's armed," House Education Committee Chairman John Moore, R-Brandon told reporters.

The bill is one response to the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December that left 27 dead, including 20 children and the gunman who committed suicide. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and others are pushing for grants that would subsidize the cost of police officers and sheriff's deputies in schools.

Under Carpenter's plan, any employee carrying a concealed weapon would have to pass a firearms safety course. That mirrors a 2011 state law allowing people, if they get training, to carry concealed guns into many places where they're otherwise banned, including college campuses and churches.

The Department of Public Safety lists about 130 approved trainers on its website.

Local school boards would have to pay for the training and cost of the permit.

Those who favor arming school employees point to the 1997 shooting at Mississippi's own Pearl High School. There, 16-year-old student Luke Woodham shot and killed two students and injured seven others after killing his mother in his home. Assistant Principal Joel Myrick went to his truck and retrieved a revolver, stopping Woodham from leaving the campus and holding him until police arrived. However, Myrick last month told The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge, La., that he opposes arming school personnel and instead favors relying on trained law enforcement officers and others with extensive firearms training.

Carpenter earlier told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that he worked with a National Rifle Association lobbyist to craft the bill. He has said it's too expensive for every district to pay for an armed officer.

"We have to allow the school districts to protect themselves," Moore said. "We can no longer tell the schools, 'You must be unarmed sitting ducks every day of the week.'"

Moore said no one would be forced to carry a gun under the Mississippi proposal.

Utah already allows concealed weapons in schools, as do at least a few school districts elsewhere. Bills allowing teachers to be armed are being considered in at least 10 other states, including Tennessee.